Superhydrophobic coatings that make water droplets dance and roll off of a surface show promise for applications such as self-cleaning cars, buildings, and food processing equipment. A new method creates such coatings by combining two common materials—Teflon and a shrinkable plastic—in a few simple steps (ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 2016, DOI: 10.1021/acsami.5b12165).

For about 15 years, materials engineers have been using the tools of nanotechnology to . . .